Generation of multi-octave spanning high-energy pulses by cascaded nonlinear processes in BBO

We present the generation of optical pulses with a spectral range of 500-2400 nm and energies up to 10 mu J at 1 kHz repetition rate by cascaded second-order nonlinear interaction of few-cycle pulses in beta-barium borate (BBO). Numerical simulations with a 1D+time splitstep model are performed to explain the experimental findings. The large bandwidth and smooth spectral amplitude of the resulting pulses make them an ideal seed for ultra-broadband optical parametric chirped pulse amplification and an attractive source for spectroscopic applications. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America